UPDATE 2-'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' author dies

July 16, 2012|Reuters

* Wrote several bestsellers on business management

* Popular motivational speaker, consultant

(Updates sales figures from publisher)

By Laura Zuckerman

SALMON, Idaho, July 16 (Reuters) - Stephen R. Covey, authorof the bestselling motivational book "The 7 Habits of HighlyEffective People," died on Monday at an Idaho hospital frominjuries he suffered in a bicycle accident in April, familymembers said in a statement. He was 79.

Covey, a former professor at Brigham Young University inUtah, founded an executive training center in Salt Lake Citythat merged in 1997 with Franklin Quest Co to formFranklinCovey, a leading provider of time-management seminarsand publications.

The publicly traded company is perhaps best known for itsline of Franklin Planner appointment calendars, which it marketsalong with books, workshops and other products based on its"Franklin System" of business management and Covey's "7 Habits"principles.

Covey, a Salt Lake City native, earned a master's degree inbusiness administration from Harvard University and a doctoratefrom Brigham Young.

But it was his seminal self-help guide to success inbusiness, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: PowerfulLessons in Personal Change," published in 1989, that made Coveya brand name.

He went on to write several more bestsellers about businessmanagement, including "Principle-Centered Leadership," became afavorite motivational speaker on the Fortune 100 circuit andserved as a personal consultant to organizations ranging fromProcter & Gamble to NASA.

Covey was recognized in 1996 as one of Time magazine's 25most influential Americans, and was named among the world's top50 business thinkers in 2011 by Thinkers50, a group thatcompiles that list every other year.

His "7 Habits" title has sold more than 20 million books in38 languages worldwide, and the audio version has sold over 2million copies, more than any nonfiction book ever released ontape, according to publisher Simon & Schuster.

The book spent five years on the New York Times bestsellerlist and begat a number of sequels, including his 2004 title,"The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness," and his finalwork, "The 3rd Alternative," published last year.

He died at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center inIdaho Falls "due to the residual effects of a bike accident hesuffered this past April," his family said in its statement.

Covey fell off his bike and suffered severe head injuriesrequiring hospitalization on April 19 during a ride near hishome in Provo, Utah, according to Provo police Sergeant BrandonPost.

Covey was remembered on Monday by colleagues at Utah StateUniversity, where he joined the business school faculty in 2010,as an accomplished scholar and tireless mentor to students.

"Dr. Covey touched the lives of people around the world invery personal ways," Utah State President Stan Albrecht said ina statement. "He was an inspirational leader who was always apowerful voice for individual integrity, strong character andextreme trustworthiness in every aspect of life."

In an article published in the business school's magazine,Covey was described by one of his sons as an informal,approachable person with a good sense of humor.

"He always treated everybody the same, exactly," Sean Coveysaid in the spring 2010 issue of the Huntsman Alumni Magazine."It didn't matter if you were the CEO of a Fortune 10 company orthe local barber. You wouldn't have ever known the difference."

In his final hours, Covey was surrounded "by his loving wifeand each one of his children and their spouses, as we sang himhis favorite hymns, just as he always wanted," the familystatement said.